Miles of Dirty Trails

A new window opens.

I have an appointment with a new doctor on Monday. With each appointment I have an initial wave of enthusiasm. I have hope that THIS WILL BE THE DAY. This will be the appointment that some Dr. House-like doctor looks at my chart and says, “Take this pill every day and you will be running again in a week.”

But that hasn’t happened. Thus why after my initial wave of enthusiasm, I have a flood of trepidation. This ain’t my first rodeo. I know I will have to explain my last year and a half, all the lab results, all the medicine. And after that, if they don’t think I am a hypochondriac who just needs anti-depressants, I can go down my list of questions and things I want to explore.

Sigh.

But the bright side is, the appointment on Monday is with a family doctor who also specializes in sports medicine. Yes, such a mythical unicorn of a doctor exists! (I found him after much Googling, after being prompted by a doctor on Twitter with what sort of a doctor might be helpful.) This dude is a runner! And obstacle course racer! And sees not just regular people, but crazy runners like me! OMG! Someone who might get it! Yes Yes YESSSSSS! (but… but… but… trying not to get too hopeful because they let-down is just soul crushing).

So. My mission is to:

Talk about tweaking my thyroid meds the last little bit, to go from “in range” to “optimal.” Which I suspect would be a slight increase in my current med, plus adding on a small dose of T3, which I tolerated well in the past.

I want to get my ferritin level from in the toilet up to decent, and eventually to optimal. This will, I guess, just be continuing my prescription iron supplement. (But I would love to hear if infusion is a kickstart?)

I want to get my Vitamin B checked because the rheumatologist said that could be causing my sun sensitivity. And going in the sun for me just sucks right now.

I want to get my Vitamin D checked because I read that deficiency in that is common and also causes fatigue.

And I am totally open for discussion on anything else that could be causing my entire body to be on super-slow-mo.

So. Again, I am hopeful. I am eyeing my calendar, as I always do. And I mentally start thinking… I have a half in October. That gives me nearly 2 months to start feeling better. Maybe I won’t have to DNS. And maybe my metabolism will wake up so I will lose some weight and not feel like a wildebeest in my race pictures.

But I do this every couple months. I start plotting out my future with high hopes, great expectations and every other cliché sentiment. I think that I will be ME again, if only, if only…

For real though. I think this next doctor is my best shot yet of getting back on track. Which will put me back on the (oval) track. Get it? See what I did there?